Of Assassins and Vampires
by SmiggleWiggy
Summary: Hainin Marshal is back and ready to deal with whatever comes his way. Maybe. Unless it's the possible threat of vampires. Then he may have a bit of an issue. All the same, our Imperial will have to work his way through inner (and outer) problems. Good thing he has a very sharp dagger to help him with that.
1. Chapter 1

**HEY!**

**Yo!**

**'Sup. I'm back. Sort of. I've been on a bit of a hiatus 'cause school started up again, and I was like, "Whoa, homework and tests the first week in. Cool." **

**Anyhoo, I've barely had time to write anything, but I was like, "Hey, it's been a minute. I should write a new FanFiction."**

**So, here it is, and this time, it's about Hainin, the lovable yet killer Dark Brotherhood assassin. Much like ****_Dreams of Wolves,_**** this Fic will be based around a struggle Hainin has to overcome while discovering cool stuff about himself. **

**Hurray for self-discovery! **

**So yeah, let's get into it guys. Hope you enjoy ****_Of Assassins and Vampires._**

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><p>Blood sparkled on the snow as the assassin drew his weapon from his most recent kill. He wiped the dagger on the ground to rid it of the dark liquid that shrouded the black blade. He lifted it from the ground and slid it into the black leather scabbard at his hip before standing. He gazes down at the dead man's face, seeing nothing but the eyes. The gray eyes, empty of life and full of death. There was no denying that this man was in the Void.<p>

The assassin squatted down to search his kill. The man had been leaning against the tree, whimpering for mercy, whether from the wound he already had on his leg that was oozing pus even as the assassin searched him, or from the assassin himself, whom had loomed over the soldier with his dagger drawn. The assassin found a note hidden behind the Stormcloak officer's breastplate, and he unfolded it to see what it said.

_Ralof,_

_Know that what I write now, I write as I'm working my way back to Windhelm and King Ulfric. I have neither abandoned my king nor my brothers and sisters in arms; I was merely waylaid on my journey home. I hope to the Divines that no one thinks I have left you all for dead, mainly because I was beginning to think Ulfric was starting to like me, and I don't aim for him to see me as a deserter. _

_All I wanted was to see my wife one last time. That's all it was. I knew that the battle of Whiterun would be my last, and I didn't want to have left my lady on the note I did. You'll be pleased to know she refused my apology, but by now I suppose it doesn't matter, mainly because the battle is over. _

_At least we won, though I don't think I have the right to say "we". I wasn't there, after all, and I don't have any glory in the victory. The only songs that will be sung with my name in them will be the one telling of the lovesick soldier who deserted his brothers and sisters for his wife. _

_Won't that make for a lovely tune?_

_I hope to be back in Windhelm, soon. Keep some ale on hand for me, brother. I'm sure I'll need it. _

_Larroi Stone-Face_

Hainin Marshal crumbled the note in his fist and dropped it beside the dead Stormcloak. "You won neither wife nor battle, sir," he said, almost feeling sorry for the soldier. "But I suppose there's nothing to be done about it now."

Without another word, Hainin turned away from the man and started towards Shadowmere, whom he had left by the road he had been traveling on. Coming back to Dawnstar from a target in Windhelm was never a good trip; it was always snowing up on the mountain road, and the lower road was always clogged with vile creatures of some sort. Hainin had decided to brave the lower path, and found several packs of wolves, a sabre cat, some snow, and a dying Stormcloak.

At least he had something to tell the rest of the Family when he returned to the Sanctuary.

Hainin climbed up into Shadowmere's saddle and clicked his tongue at the horse. "C'mon, boy," he murmured, "let's go home."

Shadowmere whickered and started a fast trot down the cobblestone road. Hainin gripped the reins tightly in his hands as he thought about the Stormcloak. _I wonder how he would have felt if he'd known that he wasn't even close to Windhelm's gates._

The note had said his name was Larroi Stone-Face. Hainin had a recollection of killing another Larroi a while back, though he couldn't say exactly how long. It had certainly been before he had joined the Dark Brotherhood. It had probably been a kill just to keep his blade sharp, and for no real purpose other than to kill.

He'd been like that for a while, killing senselessly because he had nothing else to do. The old hag that had gotten him into the Brotherhood had actually been one of those kills; he hadn't appreciated the way she had been talking to the orphans. Astrid hadn't been kidding when she'd said the bitch had deserved it.

Astrid… Hainin let out a breath, and realized that his fingers were turning numb from holding onto the reins so tightly. He relaxed his grip, flexing his fingers. Astrid had given him a home, and even thought she'd tried to have him killed, and gotten the rest of the Family killed in the process, he would forever be grateful to her. She was surely getting what she deserved down in the Void, but in the back of his mind, Hainin hoped it wasn't too harsh of a punishment.

And the whole Family wasn't killed, Hainin reflected. There was still Babette, the vampire child. Cicero was alive as well, thanks to Hainin's own self-realization that if he killed Cicero, he'd be killing off the last person who understood what the real Dark Brotherhood was. And Nazir.

A faint grin crossed over Hainin's face that he quickly got rid of. For whatever reason, he couldn't forget what had happened between himself and the Redguard assassin. He'd tried to pass it off as a drunken act of stupidity, but there was still something about it that he couldn't… get over.

Hainin's lips tingled, and he wiped at them with the back of his gloved hand before reaching behind him to pull up his hood. His fingers reached for the red fabric that covered his mouth, and he adjusted it so that it covered his nose as well. Even on the lower roads, it was still bloody cold.

He thought back to his previous thoughts of traveling towards Riften until the snow passed, but had decided against it. For whatever reason, he couldn't say; the others were certainly more than capable of taking care of themselves while he was away, even though he was the one who was supposed to give out contracts to the rest of the assassins. He was the only one who could hear the Night Mother, and he needed to be there to listen. As the Listener, it was his duty.

_"__So you're a listener? I like that."_

He shook his head to get Astrid's words out of it. She hadn't liked it at all, if he actions were any indication. Babette and Nazir had forgiven her, at least, and the jester had seemed to forget all about her once he learned the Night Mother was in charge again.

Hainin wondered briefly if his Family knew the Stormcloaks had won the battle against Whiterun. The news had reached him as he was entering Windhelm a few days before. The soldiers left in the city were whooping and cheering in excitement. Hainin had been able to draw what they were so happy about from a drunk in Candlehearth Hall. "The true sons and daughters of Skyrim have done it!" the drunk had slurred. "They've taken the central point of Skyrim! Soon there will be nothing between them and Solitude!"

The poor sap had passed out at the bar and had to be carried to his home by a few of the other bar patrons. Hainin couldn't blame him for drinking so much, however. After all, he enjoyed as many drinks as he could get his hands on at one time as well.

Hainin sighed and relaxed in the saddle, reaching forward to pat Shadowmere on the neck. "All night ride and we're home, pal," he told the black stallion.

Shadowmere tossed his head in response. Hainin agreed with him entirely; he didn't know if he wanted to travel through the night, either. If he was correct, they'd make it too Morthal by nightfall, and then it was north to Dawnstar from there.

Traveling north at night was never safe; Hainin was brave, but he didn't want to risk Shadowmere slipping on some snow and breaking a leg or something. He would hate to lose his horse, and not just because riding was quicker than walking. He loved Shadowmere dearly.

Hainin glanced up at the sky. It was hard to tell where the sun was, since the sky was covered in heavy gray clouds. He let out a breath and brought his head down again. They would just keep riding until they reached Morthal, no matter what time it was when they got there.

He squeezed Shadowmere's sides gently with his thighs to urge him forward. The horse picked up his pace to a slow canter, and Hainin scratched his ears. "Good boy."

Shadowmere nickered in response. Hainin relaxed into the saddle and leaned back. _It won't be much longer,_ he thought to himself._ And when we get there, warm food and a warm bed await for me, as well as a warm stable for Shadowmere._

(^)

That wasn't his first disappointment. "How do you not have a stable?!" the assassin exclaimed as he glared at one of the guards.

He lifted his armored shoulders. "The house that was next to it caught fire and sent the stable burning to the ground." When Hainin only continued to glare, the guard held out his hands. "It was a big fire. Sorry, citizen, but there's no stable for your horse."

Hainin huffed and took Shadowmere's reins in his hand. "Thanks for nothing, I suppose," he growled to the guard before he turned and led the stallion away. Gazing around Morthal, it didn't surprise him they didn't have a stable. The whole town was built on the edge of the lake, some of the building even _above_ the lake, held up by wooden docks.

He sighed and glanced at Shadowmere. "Sorry, buddy," he said, "but it looks like you'll be spending the night outside."

Shadowmere snorted, and Hainin led him past the city limits to a grassy clearing nearby. He studied the grass, determining if Shadowmere would be able to eat it. It seemed normal enough, so he nodded to it. "See, there's your dinner, since they don't have any hay." He reached into the saddle bag and produced several carrots. He held one out to the horse, and Shadowmere took it between his teeth. It crunched a few times, and Shadowmere reached for another.

Hainin fed him the rest of the carrots before patting his neck. "You'll stay here, right? Won't run away?" Shadowmere nuzzled his shoulder, and Hainin scratched his nose. "I'll see you in the morning, buddy."

He stalked back over the frosted grass to Morthal again, his booted feet crunching against the thick dew as he did so. The sun had gone down completely, and Hainin was beginning to get cold. He shivered and tugged his cloak tighter around his shoulders as he shuffled towards the Moorside Inn.

He pushed his way inside and was greeted by a large fire. Hainin breathed out a sigh and sunk down into an empty chair as the innkeep called to him: "Just take a seat, and I'll be over to see you in a moment!"

Hainin merely waved his hand. He didn't want to talk to anyone in this stinking town, especially since they didn't have a stable for Shadowmere to sleep in where he would be warm and comfortable throughout the cold night. It was only likely that it was going to get colder, and he didn't want Shadowmere catching a cold. If the horse did, they would be stuck in this Gods forsaken town until it passed, and Hainin was not looking forward to having to do that.

The innkeep approached him. She was an aging Redguard; he could tell that much by the gray shade of her hair. However, her face was free of wrinkles, and he had to admit her bust was still perky, as little a bust as it was.

She smiled down at him. "Welcome to the Moorside Inn. What can I be getting ya?"

"Anything hot," he answered almost instantly. She nodded, and he pulled a small coin purse from his belt pouch. "I'll be needing a room for the night, too," he told her.

She took the purse, shook it, and then nodded again. "Very good, sir. I'll bring you your stew right away." She eyed his armor briefly before turning swiftly and heading back towards the counter. Hainin rubbed at his eyes and stood himself, preferring to eat at the counter than in the chair.

As he sunk down on one of the bar stools, he remembered the guard mentioning a house having caught fire and burning down the stable with it. He inclined his head towards the innkeep, who had turned to set his bowl of ladled stew down in front of him.

"What's the story about the burned house?"

Immediately, the Redguard's face softened. "The poor family," she murmured. "The wife and daughter both, burned to death in their beds. The husband, he made it out." She lifted her eyebrow and spat, "I bet he was the one who set the fire in the first place."

_Well,_ Hainin thought to himself,_ that's a little over the top._ "Why would he do that?" he asked aloud.

The innkeep raised her shoulders and reached for a rag to rub down the bar. "All I can say is the day right after, he found someone to replace his wife. What kind of man does that?"

"Hmm," mused Hainin. He reached for the spoon that was resting against the side of the bowl and scooped some stew up into it. After he had swallowed it, the heat searing his throat, he glanced at the Redguard once more and said, "What's the name of the Jarl that runs this place?"

The innkeep's face grew even harder. "Ever since those blasted Stormcloaks won their stupid war, Jarl Sorli had been making her home in Highmoon Hall. That dirty Argonian housecarl of hers can't seem to get out of my inn most of the time. I wouldn't care, normally, but he always leaves a stink behind him." She wrinkled her nose and shook her head, turning away from Hainin.

The assassin abandoned the spoon and picked up the bowl in both hands, taking a long swallow of the scorching hot soup. He barely felt the burn as it went down his throat. He hated to admit it, but he was more than a little interested in learning why the man had burned down his house.

The only thing he could decide upon was that this new love was more attractive than his previous woman, but to kill a child as well?

Hainin shook his head in disgust. Poorly plotted, he decided with a click of his tongue. If he'd wanted his wife killed, all he had to do was contact the Brotherhood; Hainin would've sent Babette to take care of it. The woman would have followed the vampire child willingly onto the moors.

He finished his stew and gestured to the rooms on either side of the inn. "Which one is mine?" he asked.

"Any," answered the Redguard woman. "They're all empty."

Hainin nodded appreciatively and stood. He sauntered past each room before he selected the one closest to the door of the inn. He figured that if he couldn't take this place any longer, it would be easiest to leave in the middle of the night if he was close to his escape route.

He unclasped his black cloak trimmed with red silk; the clasp was a silver dagger, encrusted with little rubies along the hilt. Nazir had bought it for him.

Hainin smiled at the thought of the Redguard assassin as he lay the cloak across the small table in the corner of the room. Surely he would be wondering why he had not returned yet. Then again, because of the war, crossing into different provinces had become much more difficult. His Royal Nord had placed a thick layer of guards across each line to make sure everyone who was crossing was legal.

Hainin shook his head and plopped down on the bed, not bothering to remove his armor. He was bound to be stiff in the morning anyway, since he had been riding Shadowmere all day.

He curled up into a ball underneath the green blanket and let out a slow breath. "Alright, Listener," he urged himself. "The sooner you go to sleep, the sooner you're out of this place."

He closed his eyes. Just as he was beginning to drift off into a slumber, he heard a screech coming from somewhere outside of the inn. Hainin jumped out of the bed immediately. He grabbed his sword belt and sprinted out of the inn, buckling it as he went. Without stopping, he ran until he'd reached the clearing where he had left Shadowmere.

He pulled to a stop when he saw something stuck beneath his stallion's hooves. Slowly, he approached the black horse. Shadowmere blinked glowing red eyes at him as he stepped closer, and whickered quietly at him.

Hainin sucked in a breath before crouching down to see what Shadowmere had done. He shoved against the horse's knee to make it buckle, and Shadowmere snorted before trotting a distance away. Hainin inhaled sharply at what he saw once Shadowmere was gone.

A human, its head cracked in like it had been crushed with a mace, lay oozing brain and skull fragments. Her fingernails were long and sharpened to tips, and Hainin saw the sharp glint of fangs coming from inside the girl's gaping mouth.

He turned and retched up the stew he had eaten for dinner. Shadowmere had killed a vampire by crushing it's skull beneath his hooves.

Hainin wiped at his mouth and stood again, letting out a breath each time he moved. "Shadowmere," he croaked. The horse responded and approached him. Hainin felt his soft nose against his hand, and he leaned his forehead against the horse's velvety face. Shadowmere's warm breath reassured him, and Hainin reached around to rub his neck.

"I'm glad you're okay," he said at last. He cast a glance over his shoulder at the dead vampire on the ground. Shuddering at the sight of brain again, he turned forward once more and walked to Shadowmere's side. He stuck a foot in one stirrup and pulled himself up into the saddle.

Clicking his tongue, he directed Shadowmere to turn with the reins. The stallion picked up speed as soon as they were away from the clearing, and Hainin allowed himself to look behind them once again. Torches could be seen in the distance, and voices were shouting indistinct things to one another.

The assassin turned forward in the saddle and urged Shadowmere onward. "Come on, boy," he said. "Let's get home."

Shadowmere increased his speed to a run, and Hainin rolled his shoulders, his eyes drooping. It wasn't until the sun was rising again in the Far East reaches of Hjalmarch that he realized he'd left his cloak behind at the inn.

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><p><strong>Anyway, yeah! First chapters whoo!<strong>

**I probably won't have a second chapter for some time, but as soon as I do, I promise it's coming right up!**

**See you when I got it.**


	2. Chapter 2

**So, as you can tell, I'm posting a new chapter every Saturday instead of every other day like I did last time. Since I got school (and super hard Honors classes) it gives me more breathing room to type up a chapter in my spare time during the week. **

**So bear with me while I leave a week's worth of space between chapters. **

**Kthx. **

**Hugs.**

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><p>He rode within sights of the Dark Brotherhood secret entrance just outside of Dawnstar. Hainin pulled against Shadowmere's reins in front of the small stable he'd built for him next to the wood slab that covered the entrance.<p>

"We're home, boy," he said happily, sliding out of the saddle and into the snow.

Shadowmere whinnied in agreement, and trotted into his stable, going immediately for the hay bag. Hainin grinned and reached beneath his belly to unbuckle his saddle. He pulled it and the horse blanket from Shadowmere's back and over the side wall of the stable. He then reached up to pull off his bridle. Shadowmere lifted his head from the feed bag long enough for Hainin to pull it over his ears before plunging right back into the hay.

Hainin laid the bridle over top of the saddle and stretched before exiting the stable and shutting the gate behind him. "I'll come check on you later," he told Shadowmere.

The horse flicked his ears at him and Hainin turned towards the secret entrance. He pulled on the wooden cover to reveal the hole that led down to the passage that would take him into the Sanctuary.

He slid into it, closing the cover as he did so. Taking a deep breath, he started walking down the passage to the other end. He saw the reflection of the stained glass on the dirt wall before he saw the door. Hainin rounded the corner and saw the large glass door waiting warmly before him.

Hainin had to grin, and he continued towards the door. He reached it, and pushed against it gently, slowly. It opened immediately, and he sighed, stepping through the entrance into the Sanctuary. Almost at once, Cicero appeared on the upper level. He smiled widely and exclaimed, "Listener! You're home!"

The Jester flew down the stone stairs and tackled Hainin with a hug, his hat going flying as he did so. The two assassins fell to the floor from the force, Hainin laughing the whole time.

"I missed you too, Cicero," he told him, patting the jester on the back. Cicero flew to his feet, pulling Hainin up with him as he did so.

Babette stepped out of the side passage leading to the bedrooms, amber eyes shining brightly. "Welcome back, pretty boy," she said with a smirk.

"Nice to see you, blood-sucker," responded Hainin easily.

The two recruits that he never remembered the names off appeared behind the vampire, bowing deeply with respect. Hainin dipped his head to them both and glanced around, wondering where Nazir was.

Babette lifted her eyebrow. "You just missed him," she said. "He went out to get food from Dawnstar."

"Oh." He did his best not to sound disappointed, but Babette continued to study him with a raised eyebrow. Hainin turned away and looked at Cicero. "How's Mother?"

"Dead and pristine, as always!" chirped the jester in answer. "Anxiously awaiting your return, I'm sure. When Nazir returned with news from Dawnstar about the war, we were worried you wouldn't be able to get home."

Hainin shrugged. "It took longer than I had thought it would," he agreed, "but here I am." He glanced at Babette. "I need to talk to you about something."

She nodded, cautiously, and stepped backwards into the hall. Hainin went towards her, and Cicero followed right behind him. The Listener let out a breath and turned to look at him. "I need to talk to her alone, Ciss," he said.

Cicero's face fell, but he nodded sadly and turned away, heading for the table. Hainin turned back to Babette and followed her into one of the bedrooms. Hainin shut the door, and Babette crossed her arms. "What's this about?" she demanded.

Hainin studied the ground for a moment, deciding on what to say. After a moment, he lifted his head again and began, "Are vampires common? Throughout Skyrim, I mean."

Babette's eyes narrowed. "Why?"

"When I was in Morthal last night, Shadowmere killed one," Hainin answered slowly.

The vampire's eyes grew wide immediately. "So close to civilization?" she murmured to herself. "That's new."

"They don't get close to cities?" Hainin asked her, tilting his head.

"None that I know of," Babette replied, studying the ground. "Something's happening."

"What could it be?" Hainin queried, leaning back against the door.

Babette shook her head. "I don't know. I had heard from someone that the Dawnguard was reforming, but-"

"Who?"

Babette looked up at him through red eyes. "You've never heard of the Dawnguard?" When Hainin shrugged, she said, "The Dawnguard are an old group of vampire hunters that died out a long while back. One of the old members is trying to start it up again."

Hainin pursed his lips. "If the Dawnguard is reforming, the vampires might be up to something," he mused at last.

"I hope not," Babette muttered. "The Dawnguard will come looking for every vampire in Skyrim."

"You'll be fine," Hainin assured her. "The Dawnguard and the vampires can play their games. It has nothing to do with the Dark Brotherhood."

He heard the stained glass door open, and Cicero exclaim happily. "Redguard!"

Hainin stiffened. Nazir was back.

Babette lifted an eyebrow at him. "What's your problem?"

"I uh..." Hainin stammered, searching for a response. "I left my cloak in Morthal, with the clasp Nazir gave me. It's gone. Nazir is going to be angry."

"And that's a problem?" Babette asked, pushing him out of the way and opening the bedroom door.

"Yes it's a problem!" Hainin replied hotly. "He got it just for me. If you lost something I bought for you, I would be angry."

"Ooh," Babette responded, feigning a shiver. "I'm shaking just thinking about it."

Hainin attempted to swat at her, but the vampire scooted out the door and down the hall. Hainin let out a breath to calm himself down before he followed her lead. He walked into the main room to find Babette digging around in one of the bags Nazir has brought along with him. Cicero was flouncing around cheerfully, waving a parchment around in the air.

Nazir glanced up from where he was standing shifting through another bag, and the Redguard dipped his head in Hainin's direction. "Listener. Glad to see you returned home safely," he said.

Hainin's heart jumped to his throat. He hated himself for having that happen every time Nazir talked.

He returned the head nod. "I'm glad to be home."

"Listener! Listener!" Cicero exclaimed, bouncing over to him. "Look what we received from a letter carrier!"

Hainin took the parchment from the jester and glanced at it, not really reading the words because he was aware of Nazir watching him closely. "Do you feel alright, Hainin?" the Redguard queried.

"Of course," the Listener responded, voice cracking. He cleared his throat and set the letter down on the table. "Why? Am I not as handsome as I usually am?"

Babette snorted at that, and Nazir smiled slightly. "No," he said, "but you look a little jumpy."

"Jumpy? No, I'm not jumpy at all," Hainin answered quickly. He nervously started to snap his fingers and he strolled around the table in a circle. "No reason to be jumpy. Everyone is home now, the Family is back together again. Hurray."

"Hurray! Hurray!" Cicero agreed, clapping.

Hainin caught Nazir's eyebrow lift, and he stopped walking. "I'm sorry!" he cried, falling to his knees. Nazir gazed down at him in confusion as Hainin slid across the floor and grabbed the end of his robes. "I let the cloak you gave me in Morthal. I thought there was something wrong and I ran out of the inn without it." He hid his face in the red and black fabric. "I'm so ashamed."

"Hainin, get up," Nazir sighed, grabbing him by the shoulder and pulling him to his feet. "I don't care about the stupid cloak."

Hainin blinked warily at him. "You're not?"

"No!" the Redguard answered, annoyed. He crossed his arms. "Now, are you going to tell me what's really bothering you?"

Hainin slid into a chair at the table and glanced towards Babette for help. The vampire rolled her eyes and said, "Hainin thinks vampires are going to overrun Skyrim."

Nazir furrowed his brow in confusion. "Why would you think that?" he asked, directing his question to the Listener.

Hainin put his arms on the table and laid his head down on top of them. "Shadowmere killed one last night near Morthal," he said. "Vampires don't usually get so close to cities."

"It's true," Babette supplied, backing him up. "I do find it a bit odd. Usually, we draw out pray away from the other humans, and only when they're not near a civilized area."

"We don't have to worry about the vampires, do we?" Cicero asked. Hainin lifted his head and saw that the jester had gone from elated to worried; he gnawed on a thumbnail and glanced from one assassin to the next.

"No," Hainin told him, though he wasn't positive himself. "Though we should keep our eyes open, just in case. Especially when we're out alone."

Nazir had moved so that he was leaning against the wall. He was gazing at the floor, eyes narrowed. "Vampires, wars, and werewolves. What's next?" he muttered under his breath.

At the word "werewolves", Hainin's interested sparked. "What about werewolves?" he demanded.

Nazir gestured with one hand to the letter on the table. "It's all in the letter you didn't read. The Companions had a war of their own against the Daedric Prince Hircine. You know, the one who controls werewolves. Apparently, the Companions won."

Hainin picked up the letter and read it, for real this time.

_Brotherhood,_

_Though you probably don't care much, we figured it would be best to let you know just what has been happening, in case it were to affect you. The Companions have recently had a battle with the Daedric Prince Hircine, due to the fact that he thought it all right to try and control the Companions as werewolves. _

_Thankfully, we won the battle, and gave Hircine to his brothers as punishment. _

_We considered it sensible to let the other two factions in Skyrim know of this war, in case it were to cause trouble for either. _

_The Harbinger of the Companions,_

_Cry Silverworthy_

"Hmm," Hainin mused, folding the parchment over. "Interesting. We haven't heard from the Companions since the Dragonborn defeated Alduin the World-Eater."

"I know," Nazir responded, finally lifting his eyes from the floor. "We weren't even invited to her wedding. I enjoy a good wedding every now and again."

Hainin met his brown eyes and they stared at one another for a moment before the Listener finally looked away and turned to Cicero. "Now I see what you're so happy about. You like the Dragonborn, don't you?"

"Oh yes, yes!" Cicero replied cheerfully. "The Dragonborn is a very good friend of Cicero's!"

Hainin sighed. He'd never met the Dragonborn in person, which was odd, considering how many times he'd been down to Whiterun Hold. She always seemed to evade him.

The other faction she'd spoke of… She must have met the Thieves' Guild. There was no other faction in Skyrim worth sending a letter too. At least, not one that he knew of.

Hainin stood up from the table, passing the letter back to Cicero as he did so, and lifted an eyebrow at Nazir. The Redguard nodded in understanding and followed the Listener down the hallway into his bedroom. Once he was inside, Hainin shut the door and leaned against it.

"I didn't want to talk about this in front of Babette," he explained.

"You're worried about the vampires," Nazir stated.

Hainin shrugged. "You're not?"

"Not entirely," Nazir replied. "The Dawnguard are starting back up; if there is a real threat, they'll be the ones to take care of it, not us."

Hainin didn't find any comfort in the fact that a group of old vampire hunters was reforming. "But-" he started.

Nazir shook his head and crossed the room to stand before him. "Everything's going to be fine," he said, resting his hands on the Listener's shoulders. "Trust me, all right?"

Hainin's knees felt wobbly. "When do I not?" he queried weakly.

Nazir's eyes went soft. He looked like he wanted to say something, but instead nodded and stepped away from Hainin once more.

The Listener's heart fell, but he didn't say anything. Instead, he grinned sideways. "Do you want to do something later?" he asked.

Nazir glanced at him in confusion. "What is there to do?"

Hainin frowned. "I don't know!" he exclaimed. "There was just a bit of awkwardness there and I wanted to dispel it, all right? Sithis, give me a break!"

Without waiting for a response, Hainin pulled open the bedroom door and stormed out of the room. _Men are no better than women,_ he huffed to himself in annoyance.

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><p><p>

**Also it was my birthday today! (November 8th) I'm now sixteen years of age. Hooray!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Yay. We're here again whoohoo. **

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><p>The next morning, Hainin climbed the stone steps to the upper level of the Sanctuary and knelt down before the Night Mother.<p>

"Mother," he said aloud.

Immediately, she was in his head, _"You've returned from the last contract I sent you on. Well done." _

Hainin smiled a slightly at her praise. "Thank you, Mother," he murmured. "Do you have something new for me?"

_"Not at the present, no,"_ the Night Mother answered, _"but we do need to talk." _

Hainin lifted his head and gazed up at her. Her empty eye sockets seemed to gaze back. "About what?" he questioned.

_"Your relationship… You and the Redguard…" _

Hainin flinched. "There's nothing to talk about, Mother," he told her stiffly. "Nazir and I are only friends."

_"You don't mean that," _she mused with a chuckle. _"I hear everything even though my ears are closed. I see everything despite not having any eyes. You, Hainin Marshal, my Listener, are unlike most men in Tamriel."_

"I'm not!" Hainin insisted. He could almost see her raising an eyebrow, even though she didn't have one. Sighing, he bowed his head and muttered, "Even if I was, it has nothing to do with Nazir."

_"Listener, for once, listen to me about something other than a contract," _the Night Mother commanded. Hainin remained silent, and she went on, _"Whatever affections you feel for whoever should not affect your true calling. You understand that, yes?" _

"Of course," Hainin responded.

_"As long as you remember that, you have my blessing,"_ the Night Mother told him.

"Mother-" Hainin began, but she cut him off.

_"Silence. I do not want your excuses, Listener," _she said sternly. _"You will be happy." _

Hainin let out a breath and forced himself to nod. "Very well." He stood and bowed to her. "I will come speak with you later."

He turned and went down the stairs again before he fell into a chair at the table with a groan. He heard humming and Cicero flounced out of the hallway, grinning widely. "Good morning, Listener!" he said happily. "Did you sleep well?"

Hainin didn't respond. He lowered his head to the table, and Cicero hummed to himself. "Are you all right?" he asked.

"Sure," Hainin replied. "Don't worry about me."

Cicero didn't like the sound of that. He sat down next to Hainin at the table and poked the Imperial in the arm. "Tell me," the jester implored.

Hainin muttered under his breath in annoyance before he lifted his head again and stared at Cicero. "Listen to me," he started, "there is nothing wrong, all right? I'm fine."

Cicero didn't leave, and Hainin waved his hand. "Go. Find something to do. I want to be alone with my thoughts for a bit."

The Imperial assassin continued to give him a look. Hainin finally grew angry enough to stand up and stalk from the main room himself, heading for his bedroom. He passed Babette in the hall, and she pushed him to a halt by putting her small hand against his chest.

Hainin didn't look down at her, but he growled, "What?"

"Nazir wants to talk to you," Babette responded. "Now."

"What in Oblivion for?" Hainin mumbled.

Babette shook her head. "I don't know; he said it was important, though."

Hainin let out a breath and nodded. The vampire allowed him to continue on his way. He paused outside of Nazir's bedroom and paused before he lifted his fist to knock. The door opened before his knuckles even touched the wood.

"Come in," Nazir said, moving aside. Hainin stepped into his room, and Nazir shut the door. When Hainin turned to look at him, the Redguard was gazing at the floor, like he did when he was concentrating. "I think we may need to look further into this vampire thing," he said after a moment.

Hainin furrowed his brow. "What made you decide that?" he asked, confused.

Nazir shrugged. "I just thought it might be a good idea," he answered, "in case it does cause a problem for us. We can't lose business because people are too afraid they'll summon up the wrong killers."

Hainin sat down on the edge of Nazir's bed. "All right," he mused, "so what do you think we should do?"

"We should start with the Dawnguard," Nazir replied. "Let's figure out where their set up is located, and head there. Maybe they can give us some answers."

Hainin studied the ground. "Fort Dawnguard," he said.

"Hmm?"

Hainin lifted his head again and met Nazir's eyes. "I heard someone talking about it in Windhelm. Apparently, that's where the Dawnguard are staking out and running their operations. I didn't think about it again until Babette mentioned the Dawnguard to me yesterday afternoon."

Nazir crossed his arms and leaned back against the door. "Do you think you'd be able to find out where that's at?" he asked.

"Probably. Maybe someone in Dawnstar will know." He stood. "I can go out and ask around right now."

Nazir didn't move from his spot in front of the door. When Hainin held out his arms, the Redguard sighed and bowed his head. "Hainin…"

"No," the Listener answered. "We're not going to talk about this right now." He attempted to get by Nazir, but he wasn't budging. Hainin huffed and stepped away from the door. "What do you want from me?"

"We need to talk about what's going on between the two of us," Nazir told him.

"Which is nothing," Hainin insisted.

"We both know that's not true."

"Do we?"

The two assassins stared at each other for an extremely long moment, one that felt like an eternity. At last, Nazir broke the eye contact and mumbled, "I don't know what's going on exactly, but you're not… You don't feel like other people do, Hay. It's confusing."

"By Sithis, Nazir," Hainin exclaimed, covering his face with his hands. He turned his back on the door and walked away. "You think you're the only one that's confused? My whole life, I've thought that women were the answer. Whenever I had a craving, I would go to a woman. But now I'm learning that a _man_ that I'm merely talking to is making me more nervous than all of the women I slept with combined."

Nazir let out a heavy sigh from behind him. "Hainin, I don't know what this is going to turn into," he started, "but we can't… Let it get in the way of our work."

Hainin slid his hands down his face and clenched his fists at his sides. "I wasn't going to, anyway," he muttered at last, turning to look at the Redguard again. "Now, get out of my way so I can go do _our_ work."

"I'll go with you," Nazir said as he moved away from the door and Hainin pulled it open. "If you want me too, that is."

Hainin tightened his hand around the doorknob, his knuckles turning white. He turned his head away from Nazir and said, "No, I'll go alone."

He exited the room and headed down the hall back into the main room. Babette glanced up from a book she was reading as he walked in. "A lover's dispute?" she queried teasingly.

Hainin chose to ignore her hurried up the stairs so he wouldn't run into Cicero before he had to leave. Unfortunately, the Jester was tending to the Night Mother, and he turned in Hainin's direction just as the Listener reached the top of the stairs.

"Where are you going?" the Imperial queried.

"To Dawnstar. I'm trying to figure something out," Hainin answered. He started down the short hallway leading to the front door, and Cicero popped up in front of him before he could open it. Hainin rolled his eyes. "No."

"Listener, please!" Cicero begged. "We haven't done anything together in so long."

Hainin hung his head and sighed. "Fine," he mumbled at last. "You can come. But you have to stay quiet while I'm asking questions, all right?"

As Cicero clapped happily, Hainin began to pull open the door. Cicero blocked his path again. "What now?" Hainin demanded, starting to get annoyed.

"We should go out the secret entrance," the jester said quietly. "It would be quicker."

Hainin frowned and turned around. "I knew that," he said under his breath.

"Sure you did," Babette chuckled as they passed the table.

"Shut up," Hainin commanded.

(*)

"Dawnguard? You mean the vampire hunters?"

Hainin and Cicero had walked down the secret path and down into Dawnstar. They were now standing in the Windpeak Inn, talking to the innkeeper Thoring. The Nord shrugged and scrubbed out the inside of a tankard with a rag. "Dunno, pal. Can't say I can help you."

"You must have heard something," Hainin insisted as he put down the tankard and picked up another. "Please."

Thoring shook his head. "Nope, can't say I have. Maybe you should talk to the local guard. They may know something."

Hainin sighed and turned away from the bar. He led Cicero out of the inn and was stopped immediately by a tall Orc. Hainin had to physically look up to see his face. "Hello," the Listener said. "Can I help?"

"Heard you was asking about the Dawnguard," the Orc replied. "The name's Durak. I'm a part of the faction you've been asking about."

"Oh good," Hainin said, pleased. "Then maybe you can help us. Earlier this week, my horse was attacked by a vampire. We took care of it, but we were wondering if there was anything else about vampires we should be worried about."

Durak didn't respond, and Hainin cleared his throat. "Uh, maybe I should explain this more thoroughly," he said. "Ahem, vampires aren't good. Attacked my horse. Are they going to be a pro- urk!"

He was cut off as the Orc grabbed him around the throat with one hand and lifted him several feet off of the ground. "Listen here, buddy," the Orc growled, "I'll be doing the talking."

Hainin gurgled out a response, and Durak shook him. "The Dawnguard are starting to be reformed to deal with a group of vampires that've decided they can just show up in Skyrim without asking for permission. You wanna help, you go to Fort Dawnguard and talked to Isran."

The Orc dropped Hainin into a snowdrift and started to stalk away. Hainin scurried out of the snow and called, "Wait! Where's Fort Dawnguard at?"

"Riften, in Dayspring Canyon," Durak replied over his shoulder. "The entrance is hidden, but I don't have any doubt you'll be able to find it."

With that, the Orc disappeared up the road, and Hainin wiped snow off of his armor. Cicero reached up to brush some out of his hair. "Did you get an answer you wanted, Listener?" the jester asked.

"Yes," Hainin said, rubbing at his neck with his hand, "just didn't think it would be so dangerous."

They made it back to the sanctuary without any other chokeholds, and Hainin told Nazir what the Orc had said.

"Dayspring Canyon," Nazir said, thinking. "That's in Riften, I think. Or near it, anyway. At the base of a mountain."

"Gods dammit," Hainin sighed, falling into a chair. "It'll take at least a week to get down there in this weather."

Nazir shrugged and headed for the bedrooms. "Then I suppose we should get moving as soon as the sun come up tomorrow," he said.

Hainin looked up, confused. "Wait," he said, getting up and following Nazir down the hall. "Did you say we?"

"Yes," the Redguard answered. "Why?"

"I thought I said I wanted to go alone," Hainin responded.

"Dawnstar," Nazir told him. "You said you were going to Dawnstar alone." He looked at Hainin from over his shoulder as he started to put things into a backpack. "Besides, I wouldn't let you travel to Riften alone, anyway. Who knows what trouble you would get into with the Thieves' Guild?"

"Who do you think you are?" Hainin demanded.

"You're friend and fellow assassin," Nazir answered calmly. "Perhaps something more, if you would just talk to me about it."

Hainin let out an annoyed grunt. There was no way Nazir would let him go alone, even if Hainin ordered it. There was no possible way out.

"Fine," he muttered, turning to go pack his own things. "You can come."

"I wasn't asking for your permission," Nazir told him.

"I know," Hainin answered, "but I decided I'd best give it, considering I'm your Listener." Without another word, Hainin shut Nazir's door and went to his room. Before he shut his door, he glanced down the hall towards Nazir's room and sighed. Shaking his head, he closed his door and started to pack.

He had a journey to prepare for.

* * *

><p><strong>Well, I wonder how well this is going to go. Traveling with the person you have a huge-ass crush on? Yeah, sounds like a great time. <strong>

**And I bet, I just bet that the Dawnguard are gonna end up being assholes. **

**I BET.**

**Also, I now have Skyrim for the P.C. Expect screenshots of Cry and friends up on Tumblr soon enough. Link will be on my Author's Page or whatever the heck it's called. **

**Hugs all around. **


	4. Chapter 4

**Pst. If you're not here for the homosexual love, I suggest you avoid this chapter. **

**Just a fair-warning. **

**Then again, if you didn't like the pairing I have going on in this Fic, you probably wouldn't be reading it at all, would you? **

**Ah well. You have the warning if you want it. **

* * *

><p>Hainin woke up the next morning, dreading having to walk all the way to either Solitude or Windhelm just to catch a carriage, and then ride that carriage to Riften. He knew that it would be quicker to just ride Shadowmere all the way to Riften, but Shadowmere didn't like Nazir for some odd reason.<p>

Hainin quickly dressed, not even bothering to do his hair like he normally did, and walked to the main room, pack slung over his shoulder. Babette was sitting at the table, and she looked at him as he appeared. "So you're actually going to go?" she asked him.

Hainin nodded. "We need to find out what's going on."

Babette glanced down at the table. "I suppose you do," she agreed after a moment. "It's probably best if I don't go, hmm?"

Hainin pursed his lips. "Probably," he said. "We're going to go see the Dawnguard; I don't think they would appreciate us bringing a vampire to their fort."

Babette looked up, meeting her red eyes with his. "That's the third time you've used a plural. Are you taking Cicero?"

"No…" Hainin replied hesitantly. When Babette continued to gaze at him, he turned his eyes away and waved his hand. "Nazir insisted on coming with me."

"What?" Babette sounded shocked. "But Nazir _never_ leaves Dawnstar! Are you sure he was being serious?"

As she finished speaking, Nazir could be heard whistling down the hallway and he appeared in the main room, a backpack slung over his shoulder and a scimitar hanging from his sword belt. He smirked at Hainin and Babette both. "What? Can't a person whistle when they're happy?"

Hainin snapped his mouth closed and frowned in annoyance. "You never whistle. Why're you so chipper, anyway?"

"You hate to travel," Babette added for gumption.

Nazir shrugged his shoulders. "I've been sitting in this damn Sanctuary for almost two months, getting the Brotherhood back on its feet. It's about time I'm able to get out of Dawnstar and go do something."

Hainin and Babette exchanged a look. There was something wrong with the Redguard.

Hainin turned to back to Nazir. "I thought we decided that you would take care of the Brotherhood while I made us money?"

"Now we have enough money," Nazir responded. He lifted an eyebrow. "Are you still trying to convince me not to come? Hainin, I'm disappointed in you. I thought we discussed this last night."

Hainin lifted his hands. "I'm not trying to do anything," he insisted. "I'm just saying that you never go anywhere, and so it's weird that you're so excited to go places. That's all."

Nazir gazed at him a moment longer and then turned away. "Well, are we going to go now or not?" he asked, starting for the stained-glass door.

Hainin gave Babette a final 'help me' look and then called, "Cicero! We're leaving!"

Immediately, the jester bounded out of the hallway and tackled Hainin in a hug. "We'll miss you, Listener!" he exclaimed.

Hainin patted him comfortingly on the back. "We'll be home soon, pal," he said. "I'd give us about a month before you start to get worried."

"A month?" Babette asked, curious. "That's a little extreme, wouldn't you say?"

Hainin glanced at her. "No," he said, "not if we need to deal with the vampires ourselves."

Nazir pushed the door open and Hainin pried himself out of Cicero's grasp. "We'll be back, eventually," he repeated. "If it's going to take longer than we planned, we'll get a letter to you."

He ducked into the secret passage in front of Nazir while the Redguard waved and said, "Take care of the Sanctuary. We'll know if you bring anyone here."

Hainin heard Babette snort. "Who would we bring to the Sanctuary, even if we wanted to?"

"Goodbye," Nazir said, and then he closed the door. Hainin waited for him catch up before he turned and started to walk.

There was a silence between the two assassins as they walked down the secret passage to the covered hole outside of Dawnstar. Hainin wanted to say something, but he didn't have anything to say. He waited expectantly for Nazir to break the quiet. The Redguard didn't even look in his direction once.

When they reached the entrance, Hainin stood back and allowed Nazir to move the plank of wood blocking the way. When the obstruction was cleared, Hainin ducked outside and blinked in the morning light. A fresh bed of snow had been lain down over night, and everything glowed brightly in the sun.

Shadowmere whickered to Hainin from his stable and kicked against the gate. Hainin went over to his horse and scratched his nose. "Not this time, buddy," he murmured soothingly. "We're going someplace far away, and Nazir is coming with me."

Shadowmere flicked his ears in understanding and snorted. Hainin smiled at the horse's contempt. "I know," Hainin agreed, hugging the horse around the neck. "I didn't want him to come, either."

"Hainin!" Nazir said from behind him. "We need to go if we want to reach Windhelm by tomorrow morning."

The Listener rolled his eyes at Shadowmere and gave the stallion one final pat before he turned and walked to Nazir. The Redguard lifted an eyebrow at him. "Sharing secrets with a horse?" he asked.

Hainin shoved him playfully and started along on the path. Nazir chuckled and followed.

"So we're going to get a carriage in Windhelm?" Hainin asked him as Nazir caught up and matched his pace.

"We can't get one in Winterhold," Nazir answered, "and Solitude is way out of the way."

"Whiterun," Hainin offered.

The Redguard shook his head. "Windhelm is closer, and we would have to go through the mountains."

"I suppose," Hainin agreed. "Though I thought perhaps we could visit the Companions and find out exactly what happened with their "war"."

Nazir snorted. "You just want to see the muscular male Companions."

"That's not true!" Hainin exclaimed, hurt. "I don't need attractive men to look at." He glanced sideways at the Redguard walking beside him and bumped into his shoulder. "I'm already with one."

Nazir let out a slow breath. "Hainin," he started, "I thought we weren't going to do this."

"You need to make up your mind about what you want!" Hainin retorted. He could feel his cheeks getting hot, and he regretted trying to be playful. "If you would just tell me, we wouldn't have to prance around the subject!"

"I'm sorry," Nazir said after a moment of quiet. Hainin continued to glare at the ground even as the Redguard reached over to touch his shoulder. "I just don't know if that's who I am, Hay. Can't you understand that?"

Hainin sighed and shrugged Nazir's hand away. "I get it. I just wish I wasn't alone in this," he said.

Nazir didn't answer. Hainin lifted his eyes and saw the Redguard was gazing off up the snow-covered path, deep in thought. The Listener gnawed on his lip turned his eyes back to the ground. _I really want to be with you,_ he thought to himself quietly. _I don't know whether that's a bad thing, or a good one. I won't know until you tell me._

(^)

It seemed like they'd barely gone anywhere when suddenly, the sun began to go down. Hainin stopped walking and glanced up at the sky. It was turning dark; the blue was turning into a deep milky purple. They weren't going to make it to Windhelm before the sun disappeared.

He said as much to Nazir. The Redguard had stopped further along the snow covered path they were walking and lifted his own gaze to the sky. Sighing, he looked at Hainin. "We have to keep going."

"Are you insane?" Hainin demanded. "What're people going to think when two people, who aren't Nords, walk into Windhelm in the middle of the night?"

"It won't matter what they think," Nazir responded, starting to walk again, "because we won't even be going into the city."

Hainin started to retort, but realized the Redguard was right. The carriage was located at the city stables, outside of the walls. He frowned in annoyance and snorted, wanting to blame someone else for his idiocy. He picked up his pace until he was walking at Nazir's side, arms crossed.

"I knew that," he muttered under his breath.

The Redguard merely rolled his eyes in exasperation and continued walking. "What exactly are we planning on doing when we reach Fort Dawnguard?" he queried after a moment. Hainin lifted an eyebrow in question, and Nazir shrugged. "I'm just wondering. You don't plan on joining them, do you?"

"Not at all!" Hainin exclaimed, astonished. "What put that thought into your head? We're simply going to go to Fort Dawnguard, ask some questions about what they plan on doing, and then leave."

"And if someone tries to drag us into joining?" Nazir asked.

Hainin fingered his dagger's hilt. "Then we kill them all, obviously."

"Even though we need them to take care of the vampires?" Nazir questioned, giving him a sideways glance.

Hainin thought this over briefly, sticking out his lower lip in a pout. "Huh," he said after a second. "Maybe killing them isn't the best idea."

Nazir held out his hands, and Hainin glared at him. "Well? What's your genius plan, then?"

Nazir pursed his lips, eyes narrowing in thought. "We could simply do what they ask of us in order to get answers," he suggested at last.

"The Dark Brotherhood doesn't take orders," Hainin grumbled.

"Don't we?" The Listener shook his head, and the Redguard hummed. "That's odd, because I thought we did take orders, from people who want someone else dead."

It was taking a lot of Hainin's willpower not to punch the assassin right in the jaw. He tightened his fist and let out a breath through his nose in order to calm down. "Any other bright suggestions?" he asked through clenched teeth.

"Only that one," Nazir replied, "and, since you don't have any others, if appears that it's our only option."

Hainin really didn't want to listen to him. He wanted a better idea to pop into his head, just so he could be right about something. When one didn't come, he cursed the Nine under his breath and glared at the ground.

"So, we're going with my plan?" Nazir questioned.

"Yes," Hainin growled, though it pained him even as he said it. "You win, all right?"

"Wonderful," the Redguard replied, his voice completely void of all emotion. "I'm overjoyed that you finally let me chose for once."

"I let you come," Hainin warned beneath his breath. "Don't make me send you back."

"I thought the Dark Brotherhood didn't take orders," Nazir mused.

That was too much. "All right, that's it!" Hainin exploded. He turned on the Redguard and shoved him into the trunk of one of the trees lining the road. Grabbing the front of his robes, he held Nazir against the tree while he shouted, "I've about had it with you and your damn comments! I'm trying to be nice here, and you're making it really hard."

"That was you being nice?" Nazir queried, lifting an eyebrow. "Well. I don't want to know what angry looks like."

Hainin yelled and pulled the Redguard away from the tree, tackling him down to the ground. The two wrestled off of the path and into the woods, punched and scratches flying. When they finally stopped rolling, Nazir had Hainin on the ground and was straddling him, holding his arms down so that the Imperial couldn't use them.

"Are you done?" he shouted, anger flaring in his brown eyes.

Hainin merely spat some blood up into his face. One of Nazir's punches had knocked out a molar, and so he spat that out as well.

Nazir grunted and used a hand to wipe at his face. This released on of Hainin's arms, and the Imperial quickly threw a punch at the Redguard. It hit him square in the jaw, and the Redguard fell off of him. Hainin crawled away as quickly as possible, pulling his dagger from its scabbard. He held it in Nazir's direction as the Redguard picked himself up off the ground.

"Don't you dare come near me," Hainin hissed thickly. "I will send you to Sithis, I swear to it."

"Hainin," Nazir said slowly, holding up his hands. "What are we doing here? We're friends."

"Are we?" The Listener let out a noise of astonishment. "Doesn't really seem like that's the case, does it?"

"Well, you do have your dagger pointed at my chest," Nazir agreed.

"Yes," Hainin replied, "I do. And I also have very precise aim."

The two assassins stared at one another for a long moment. After what seemed like eternity, Nazir let out a laugh. "You know," he began, "the tension right now could be cut with a knife."

Hainin cocked an eyebrow. "Is that supposed to mean something?" he queried, tightening his grip. "I'm the one with the dagger here, remember? I could easily "cut the tension", if that's what you're saying."

"Hainin, please," Nazir sighed. "We don't need to be doing this. I don't want to fight. We still have a long way to go, and we have to come back."

The Listener continued to glare at him, but he slowly lowered the dagger. "I don't want to fight, either," he said quietly, "but you're not exactly giving me much of a choice."

"This has nothing to do with me," Nazir said.

"It has everything to do with you!" Hainin shouted. He could feel tears burning in his eyes, but they didn't escape. He didn't cry anymore. There was only burning. He swallowed thickly and slid his dagger into its scabbard on his belt. "I don't know what's wrong with me," he muttered, closing his eyes. "I don't know if I want you, or if I hate you. Right now, it's both."

Nazir let out a sigh, and Hainin looked up at him. The Redguard was gazing down at the ground. "Hainin, we've talked about this," he said when he felt the Listener's eyes on him.

"No, we haven't," Hainin replied. The anger was returning. He walked towards the Redguard, but instead of grabbing him again, he merely shouldered past him to get back onto the road. "You may think we've talked about it, but we haven't. Not even a little bit. When you're ready, come find me."

Before he could go, however, Nazir grabbed his shoulder and stopped him. Hainin didn't try to wrest free. Instead, he turned around and found Nazir looking at him carefully.

"What do you want from me?" the Redguard asked, his voice hoarse.

Hainin gazed at him. "You know what," he said after a moment.

Nazir shook his head desperately, but Hainin ignored this and took his face in his hands. Without waiting for a further disagreement, he leaned in and kissed the Redguard right on the mouth. Nazir didn't flinch away, nor did he hit him. In fact, the Redguard fell towards him, beseechingly, like he wanted more. Hainin didn't know what to give him.

He pushed Nazir back up against the same tree he'd had him against before and pulled back. Both assassins were breathing heavily, and Nazir gave him a look that made Hainin want to kiss him all over again. "Remember when I told you I'd follow you until I was dust in the breeze?" the Redguard asked him.

Hainin nodded, and Nazir reached up and grabbed his chin. "I'm even more certain of that now than I was then," he murmured quietly.

The Listener smiled sadly in response and allowed the Redguard to kiss him again. Through the kiss, he said, "You're not allowed to turn into dust until I do."

"Wasn't planning on it," Nazir agreed.

He grabbed the front of Hainin's armor and pulled him to the ground. The Imperial didn't know what was going to happen involving the vampires, but he sure was glad the relationship matter had been resolved.

_Now, onto bigger issues. _

Nazir unbuckled one of the belts on his armor, and Hainin thought, _Perhaps in the morning._

* * *

><p><strong>Okay, so maybe the warning wasn't <em>that<em> necessary considering it was only a kiss, but there are implications at the end. **

**Just trying to be helpful.**

**See you all next weekend. **


	5. Chapter 5

**Howdy folks! I'm here again! Hope you all had a lovely Turkey Day, whether or not you celebrated it. If you didn't I hope you had a lovely Thursday in general. I hope all your days are lovely.**

* * *

><p>The carriage pulled to a stop outside the Riften stables. Hainin exchanged a look with Nazir before he climbed down out of the carriage and to the ground. Immediately, the scent of the lake hit him like a punch, and he staggered backwards right into Nazir, who had just climbed off of the carriage himself.<p>

"Whoo," the Redguard said, catching him. "That's a smell."

"It smells like dead fish and shit," Hainin answered bluntly, covering his nose with his hand. "Gods, that's disgusting. How do people live in this place?"

He straightened up and glanced towards the city gates. Two guards, both dressed in Imperial red, were standing guard. One was eyeing the assassins closely, and the other was fast asleep.

Hainin turned to Nazir. The Redguard lifted an eyebrow. "Are you ready?" he queried.

Hainin frowned. "I don't know," he answered honestly. "I'm not really sure if the Thieves Guild is going to be happy to hear from us. Their Guild Master and I don't have the best history."

Hainin had met Ziris Coldwater once before, though not under the best circumstances. The two of them had been at Helgen together when the dragon had attacked. The Dragonborn had been there as well. In fact, the Dragonborn had offered to die before them, because they wouldn't stop arguing over who would get their head cut off first.

They hadn't known who the others had been at the time. How the annoying dark-haired Nord he'd been fighting with had risen through the ranks of the Thieves Guild was beyond him.

Nazir shrugged. "We'll just stay in the Bee and Barb, and, if they choose, speak with the Guild. We don't have to go down into the Ratway and look for them."

The Redguard strolled away towards the gate. Hainin gazed after him a moment, a smirk drifting over his face before he followed.

"What do you mean, pay?" Nazir was demanding when he approached.

The guard who wasn't asleep lifted his shoulders. "I'm only doing as I'm told, Redguard. You don't pay, you're not allowed into the city."

Nazir looked at Hainin, annoyance written in his face. Hainin held up a hand in his direction and grinned at the guard. "You don't honestly think we believe that, do you?" he asked sweetly.

The guard's expression didn't change. "Listen, you don't wanna pay, you don't have to. But I'm not letting you in unless you do."

Hainin let out a breath and turned away. "This is obviously a shakedown," he said, looking at Nazir. "Maybe we should just go."

"Hey, hey!" the guard said, glancing towards his partner. "Keep your voice down. I'll let you in, alright? Just let me unlock the gate."

He went to do just that, and Hainin grinned at Nazir. The Redguard rolled his eyes as the guard turned back to them. "All right, go on in," he said.

Hainin strolled through the gates ahead of Nazir, and then halted right away as the sewer scent washed over him. He gagged and crouched over, covering his mouth and nose. "By Sithis," he groaned.

Nazir came up beside him and wrinkled his own nose. "This is disgusting," he said, frowning.

"You get used to it," a guard said as he strolled past.

Hainin forced himself to straighten up and glance around. The city in general wasn't very clean. He could see a few beggars strolling around, and the Bee and Barb's front entrance was coated in a layer of grime.

He turned to Nazir and was about to say something when someone nearby said, "Hey. You."

The two assassins turned to see a male dressed in steel armor leaning against a pole, arms crossed. He narrowed his dark eyes at them. "You in Riften lookin' for trouble?" he asked darkly.

Hainin decided he didn't want to fight this guy. He shook his head. "Nope," he said, "just passing through."

"Well, I got news for you," the guy said, even though Hainin had started to walk away. "There ain't nothing to see here. Keep your noses out of the Black Briars business, though, and you should be fine."

Hainin rolled his eyes instantly. Of course this thug had something to do with the Black Briars. "Got it," he said, forcing himself to sound peachy and sincere. "No funny business."

He tried once more to walk off, even going so far as to grab Nazir's arm and pull him along, but the guy went on talking. "Me? I'm Maul. I watch the streets for them. You ever need dirt on anyone, you come talk to me, y'hear?"

"We're not exactly clean ourselves," Nazir told him, pulling his arm from Hainin's grasp.

Maul tilted his head. "So we're speaking the same language. Good. What do you need to know?"

Hainin gestured wildly with his head, but Nazir didn't look at him. "What can you tell us about the Thieves Guild?" he queried.

"You kidding?" Maul let out a laugh. "My brother works for 'em. I used to run with them myself, until I got a job up on the surface with Maven. Now I mainly run interference with my brother so as to keep the Guild updated with what's happening on the street. I may have to tell him about you two. They like to know when a new person comes to Riften."

"No doubt they'll aim to rob us, too," Hainin said sarcastically. He reached over and tugged on Nazir's arm. "Let's go."

Nazir rolled his eyes but followed him willingly. "See you around," Maul called after them as Hainin pulled Nazir across a bridge and into the marketplace.

"What in Sithis's name was that?" he demanded once they were out of earshot of the bodyguard.

"What do you mean? We got free information. I was _going_ to ask what he knew about the Brotherhood when you so rudely pulled me away," Nazir responded. He gestured towards where Maul was walking away. "See? Now he's gone."

"Who cares?" Hainin asked. "We're here to talk to the Guild if they want to talk to us, and that's it. After that, we're going to go find Fort Dawnguard, and deal with this vampire problem. Sound like a plan?"

The Redguard let out a sigh. "Fine," he agreed at last. "Let's go find out how to get down into the Ratway."

"And what business do you have down there?" someone asked from behind them.

Hainin rotated around to see a Nord leaning against the wall of the Bee and Barb. He studied them through curious green eyes, his head tilted. Red hair shone in the sunlight. _Well, I'm definitely not interested in women,_ Hainin decided as he gazed at the Nord.

"I'm only curious," he said. His voice was the typical one of a male Nord, though it's tone was spread with honey, smooth and sweet. He was definitely a thief, and probably a good one.

"We have business with the Guild Master," Hainin responded, trying to sound equally as smooth, though probably failing.

"Do you?" the Nord queried, lifting a red eyebrow. "Huh. Well, I suppose we'll have to see about that." He turned and started to walk to the other side of the marketplace, waving his hand for the two assassins to follow. "Come with me."

Hainin exchanged a glance with Nazir. The Redguard returned the look with an eyebrow lift of his own. Hainin shrugged his shoulders and followed after the Nord, aware that Nazir joined him after a moment's hesitation.

The thief led them down a staircase into the canal of Riften outside of the orphanage where Hainin had killed Grelod the Kind. When they reached the wooden dock at the bottom, the Nord stopped and turned to look at them.

"Now, before I take you any further, would you mind telling me just who you are?" he questioned.

Hainin and Nazir looked at one another once more. The Listener didn't know whether or not to tell the thief who they were, and Nazir didn't seem to be certain, either.

Finally, after a long moment, Hainin decided to just tell him. He turned back to the Nord and said, "My name is Hainin Marshal."

As soon as he said his name, the Nord's eyebrows shot upwards. "Of course," he said in understanding. "I should've guessed from the armor. You're the Listener of the Dark Brotherhood."

Hainin smirked. "My achievements precede me," he said cheekily.

Nazir elbowed him in the side. Hainin groaned and managed, "This is my associate Nazir."

The Redguard grinned at the Nord. "It's very nice to meet you," he said, "though it would be much nicer if I knew your name."

The thief allowed a grin of his own. "Brynjolf. Second-in-command of the Thieves Guild, though I suppose you've guessed that much by now."

"Ah, Ziris has mentioned you in the letters she occasionally sends out," Hainin told him, "though I had no idea that you were so..." He paused, not sure where he was going with this.

Nazir saved him, thankfully. "You wouldn't mind taking us to the Guild Master, would you? We have something to ask her."

Brynjolf pursed his lips. "The Guild Master is out on business at the moment," he told them. "I should have told you this before bringing you down here, but I wanted to speak with you privately. Of course, if you want to relay your message unto me, I will be sure to tell her when she returns."

"Brynjolf, what have I told you?" Hainin turned around to see a Nord woman of slight form coming down the stairs. The black armor she wore showed off her minimal curves very well, and dark hair fell across her shoulders around a small face. It was definitely the woman from Helgen.

She pushed between Hainin and Nazir and glared into Brynjolf's face. "No lying to other factions. We don't want to start a war!" she scolded.

"I didn't lie," Brynjolf responded. "I just didn't tell them the whole truth. You technically were out on business, just not the business they were probably thinking."

Ziris _humphed_ and leaned up on her toes to give him a kiss. Hainin let out a disappointed sigh as she did so, and Nazir elbowed him again. As he rubbed his side, Ziris turned to look at them. "What does the Dark Brotherhood want with the Thieves Guild, Listener?" she asked, directing her question to Hainin.

The Imperial straightened. It was time for business talk. "We stopped in Riften to warn you about the problem that seems to be rising in Skyrim," he told her.

Ziris's face darkened with worry. "What problem?" she asked, her voice hoarse.

"Vampires have risen up somewhere and are starting to attack more openly," he replied. "Nazir and I are going to Fort Dawnguard to figure out just what is going on, and whether or not we can stop it."

Ziris glanced up at Brynjolf. The Nord looked concerned. "Are they attacking everywhere, or…?" he asked carefully.

"I've only encountered one so far," Hainin responded. "I was staying in Morthal. The vampire attacked my horse. I began to worry because we were so close to civilization, and I've never heard of a vampire choosing prey near a town or city. The ones I know of live out alone in shacks in the woods."

"Did you receive the letter from the Companions?" Ziris questioned, turning his gaze back to him.

"The one about the war with the werewolves?" Ziris nodded and Hainin said, "Yes, we did. Only two days ago, actually."

"The vampires couldn't have anything to do with that, could they?" Brynjolf queried. "I wouldn't think so."

"I don't, either," Nazir agreed. "I believe that the vampires are just getting desperate. We'll find out soon enough."

"We just thought it would be good of us to give the Guild a fair warning, since you are the closest to Fort Dawnguard," Hainin told the two thieves. "In case vampires decided to attack Riften."

"Thank you," Ziris said after a moment. Brynjolf pulled her closer to him, and she bowed her head. "I don't exactly have a good history with vampires."

Hainin furrowed his brow. "What happened?" he asked. Ziris didn't look up and he quickly said, "You don't need to share it with us, if you don't want to."

"No, it's all right," she put in quietly. "It happened a long time ago." She turned and disappeared into a hollowed out section of the wall, saying, "Come with us down to the Ragged Flagon and I'll tell you. You must be hungry."

Brynjolf followed her lead, and, after a moment, the two assassins did the same.

(^)

Ziris and Brynjolf led them through the Ratway and across a plank board bridge into a dimly lit room with a table in the center. From there, they walked down a flight of stone steps and opened a door at the bottom. "Don't do anything stupid while you're down here," Ziris advised them before she allowed them to walk into the cavernous room on the other side. "Vekel doesn't like idiots in his bar."

Nazir and Hainin were led out into the domed room. There was a large circular pool of water in the center, and a stone walkway lined the wall in a circle around it. Across the room was a large section of stone with a dock over the water attached to it.

Ziris took the lead and walked around on the stone walkway to a small wooden bridge that connected the walk to what Hainin assumed was the Ragged Flagon. A large man barred the entrance to the bar, but when he saw it was Ziris and Brynjolf sidestepped and allowed them to pass, giving Nazir and Hainin a cold look as they did so.

Once they were seated at a table on the wooden dock, Hainin allowed himself to relax. He immediately tensed up again, however, when a bald Breton approached them from the bar, grinning sideways. He sauntered up to their table and gave the two assassins a look.

"Where'd you pick these ones up?" he queried. "They look a little frazzled. What's wrong, boys, afraid of skeevers?"

"Shove it, Del," Ziris muttered to him. "They're just visiting. Go find something to do."

The Breton continued to grin and he shuffled away again. Ziris rolled her eyes in exasperation once he was gone. "Sorry about that," she apologized to the assassins. "Delvin doesn't know when to keep his nose in his own business."

"Hey, Vekel!" Brynjolf called to the man behind the wooden bar. "Can we get two mugs of ale over here?"

"Sure thing, Bryn," the barkeep replied.

"So, what do you have to tell us?" Hainin asked once he and Nazir had ale and bowls of brown soup in front of them.

Ziris let out a breath and looked past them to the pool of murky water in the center of the room. "When I was young, I used to live with my parents in Ivarstead," she began. "It wasn't a great life; they ran the inn back then, and I helped them when I was big enough to carry a broom."

Hainin had a feeling he knew where this was going. Indeed, Ziris quickly finished off her tale in a single breath; "Basically, Ivarstead was attacked by vampires and my parents were killed. That's it."

"I'm sorry to hear that, Guild Master," Nazir said gently.

"So am I," Hainin agreed quietly.

Ziris shook her head and let out a short laugh. "It doesn't matter anymore. It happened, and that's that. However, I'm sure you can understand now why vampires aren't my favorite thing."

Brynjolf sympathetically slid an arm around her, and Ziris adjusted herself so that she was pressed against his chest. "I just… Please, take care of these vampires in any way that you can," she said quietly. "If you do, you will be welcome in the Ragged Flagon whenever you wish."

Hainin glanced towards Nazir. The Redguard nodded slightly to show that he understood. Hainin turned back to the two thieves sitting across the table from them and said, "We'll take care of whatever this is. You can count on it."

Ziris allowed him a small grin, and he returned it. He did want to get rid of the vampires, and not only for her, but for Skyrim as a whole. He had no idea as to what the bloodsuckers were doing, starting to come out more often and so near people, but he knew it couldn't possibly be good.

And he aimed to make it stop, in whatever way he could.

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><strong>Yay! Ziris isn't dead! She's alive and well, thankfully. I probably should have written about her before writing Hainin's story, but I felt like my assassin hadn't gotten much love before <em>Dreams<em>, so I wanted to give him something. **

**Perhaps my next story will be about Ziris, hmm? If you all don't mind taking a journey into the past and hearing about her becoming a thief. Because I honestly don't have any clue as to what else I would write for her.**

**So, yep! Leave any ideas and/or comments in the reviews section. I'm off to prepare for my date tomorrow. **

**(Oh yeah, I'm uploading this on a Thursday instead of Saturday because I'm busy on Saturday. Good! Regular schedule will most likely resume in two weeks because I am busy next Saturday as well. Joy, isn't it?) **

**Love you all. **


	6. Chapter 6

**Hi! How's it going? Sorry about not uploading a chapter last week; busy party thing, y'know how it goes. So, here's last week's chapter being uploaded this week!**

* * *

><p>"Thank you, Ziris," Hainin said to the Guild Master the next morning. She'd allowed both he and Nazir to stay in the Ragged Flagon overnight, with permission from the bar's owner, of course.<p>

Ziris dipped her head. "Go out there and get rid of those vampires, and we'll call it even," she said with a mirthless smile.

Hainin reached out and took her hand. Meeting her eyes, he raised it to his lips and kissed it slightly. "We won't let them come this far west," he told her. "I promise you that much."

Ziris nodded to him, blinking, and Brynjolf stepped forward and pulled her backwards against his chest. "You lads be safe," he said to the assassins. "Wouldn't be right if the assassins were killed."

Nazir chuckled hoarsely. "It would be ironic, if nothing else."

"All the same, keep your wits about you, even if you aren't dealing with vampires," Brynjolf advised. "I've heard the Dawnguard aren't the friendliest bunch, either."

"Well, when they realize we're there to help, I'm sure they'll be nice to us," Hainin answered jokingly, though Brynjolf's words had dropped like a stone into his stomach. What if the Dawnguard _did_ turn them away without answering the questions they had? What were they supposed to do, just wait for a war to emerge between the vampires and the vampire hunters?

Hainin didn't like that idea whatsoever.

Nazir placed a hand on his shoulder, and Hainin forced himself to smile. "We'll figure it out, either way." He nodded to the thieves and started to walk towards the gates of Riften with Nazir following.

"Be careful!" Ziris called after them. When Hainin glanced over his shoulder to wave, he saw that they were already gone. Disappeared into the shadows of the early morning, more than likely.

Hainin blinked, trying to find them, but they were gone, invisible or simply absent from where they had been standing in the grove behind the Temple of Mara. He shook his head and faced forward again. Nazir gave him a sideways look. "Do you think Brynjolf was right?" the Redguard queried.

Hainin didn't know whether Nazir wanted the truth, or if he wanted him to lie. He chose to simply shrug at the question, and his fellow assassin looked down at the ground briefly. It took a lot of Hainin's willpower to ignore the sudden urge he had to put an arm around him. Nazir didn't need to be comforted.

Indeed, the Redguard shook his head and said, "They wouldn't ignore us if we offer to help them."

"I'm not joining the Dawnguard," Hainin replied immediately. Nazir looked at him.

"I didn't say that," he said. "I said we would offer to help."

"Helping is practically joining, especially if they keep asking for help," Hainin pointed out.

"Aren't you willing to do anything to get rid of these vampires?" Nazir queried.

"Of course, but-"

"We may have to help them more than once," Nazir went on, cutting him off. "You'll do that, right?"

Hainin inhaled a breath. "I'm not going to join the Dawnguard," he repeated slowly. "I won't do it."

"I'm not asking you too!" Nazir exclaimed in exasperation. "I'm only wondering if we'll help them more than once if they ask for us too."

Hainin closed his eyes briefly. He knew that he didn't want to spend any unnecessary time away from the Sanctuary, but he knew that getting rid of the vampires was something they needed to do. And he knew, deep down, that he was willing to do anything to accomplish this goal, especially now that he knew what had happened to Ziris's parents because of vampires.

There was no reason for him to feel so deeply about wanting to get rid of these vampires, but for some reason, he wanted to give Ziris the satisfaction of knowing her parents had been avenged. Even if the vampires that had risen up weren't the same ones that had attacked Ivarstead, any vampire that threatened the public was a dead vampire.

Only the Dark Brotherhood was allowed to threaten the public, and only because people paid them too.

So, though he wasn't very pleased about having to help the Dawnguard, he sighed and nodded slowly. "Yes," he said, "if they ask us for help more than once, we will. But only to get rid of the vampires. If they ask us to go tromping halfway across Skyrim to get some special "Protection against Vampire Bites Potion", we're not going."

Nazir's cheek twitched, and Hainin knew he was trying to hold back a smile. "Sounds like we have an agreement, then," the Redguard said.

They walked through the north gate of Riften, and Hainin pulled out the map of Skyrim he had swiped from the Sanctuary. He unfolded it and gazed down at it, eyeing the part a very helpful guard had circled for him. "It looks like Dayspring Canyon is on the other side of this mountain here." He moved his thumb to the black circle. "We'll have to go through there-"

"Why must we go through the canyon?" Nazir asked, giving the map a glance. He pointed to the other circle that was marked "Fort Dawnguard." "We can't just walk there normally?"

Hainin shook his head. "Apparently, it's in the canyon." Nazir looked at him funny, and he lifted his shoulders. "That's what the guard said. We have to go through the canyon in order to reach the Fort, which is at the other end."

"Blasted…" Nazir grumbled to himself and started walking down the road. Hainin lifted his eyebrow and smirked as he watched him, or rather, watched his backside. Nazir must have felt his eyes on his rear, because he looked over his shoulder. "Excuse you."

Hainin pulled his eyes up to meet the Redguard's. "Sorry, I'm coming." Nazir gave him a look before he turned back around a kept walking. Hainin turned his gaze back to his rear.

"Hainin Marshal!" Nazir shouted at him.

"Right," Hainin replied absently. He grinned and followed, joining Nazir up the road. The Redguard pulled the map from Hainin's hands roughly and looks down at it. Hainin frowned. "What?"

"What do you mean, what?" Nazir muttered. "You can't just do that."

Hainin gave him a funny look. "I'm sorry, is there a problem?" he asked. "I happen to find your ass rather nice to look at."

Nazir didn't look at him, holding onto the map so hard it started to rip. "Must you look at it so blatantly in public?" he muttered, glancing over at a guard that passed them on the road.

"What are you taking about?" Hainin asked, generally confused.

"I don't want you to look at me like that when we're around others," Nazir growled.

"But… Why?"

Nazir folded the map over and handed it to him without meeting his eyes. "I… I'm not comfortable with it. Not yet. Refrain, please."

Hainin's heart tightened, but he merely turned his gaze away from the Redguard walking beside him, looking down at the cobblestone beneath his feet. "Fine," he mumbled. "If you wish."

Nazir didn't apologize like Hainin had thought he would, which only made the Imperial's heart ache that much worse. He swallowed thickly against the anger and hurt that formed inside of him and questioned, "Are we sure we're going the right direction?"

Nazir still didn't look at him. "You're the one with the map."

Hainin bit the inside of his cheek to keep himself from saying anything and silently reopened the map. The path was marked with black ink; they were heading the right way. He folded it and clenched it tightly in one hand. Why was Nazir so open with him when they were alone, but refused to show what they were to others? It didn't make sense to Hainin whatsoever.

He glanced over at his fellow assassin. The Redguard's eyes were trained on the road. Hainin resisted the urge he had to take his hand and snuggle up close beside him. He was supposed to be angry with Nazir, hurt by his choices. Why was the man so damn enthralling even when he had been so… Stiff?

He wanted to bring up something, to cease the awkwardness that had grown between them, so he just said the first thing that came to his mind. "Did you ever consider cutting off your beard?" As soon as he said it, he felt color rise to his cheeks.

Nazir immediately raised his head in confusion. "What?" the Redguard queried, his voice lilting with laughter.

Without thinking, Hainin reached over and flicked the dark hair on his chin that was held together at the end by a yellow ring. "This," he said. "Are you ever going to get rid of it?"

"Well, I hadn't thought about it," Nazir replied, touching the beard with his fingers. "I mean, I suppose I _could_, but… I've had it for a long time, Hay."

_You don't get to call me that when I'm angry at you._ "I was just thinking that you would look better without it," Hainin answered. He quickly turned forward, cursing himself. That wasn't what he had meant to say at all.

Nazir frowned unhappily at his words. "Oh," he said quietly. "I hadn't known you didn't like it."

"It's not that," Hainin insisted. "It's just… It doesn't suit you, I don't think." He closed his eyes and released a breath. _This could be going a lot better. You idiot._ "Blast," he mumbled. "I'm sorry, Nazir. I don't know why I'm suddenly being so rude."

Nazir sighed. "I think I can guess." He looked at Hainin. "Hay, please understand that this has nothing to do with you at all. I feel very strongly about you, but I don't know if I'm comfortable with anyone else knowing that just yet."

Hainin bowed his head, not responding. "Hey." Nazir stopped walking and reached out one arm to bar Hainin's way, in turn grabbing his armor and turning him in his direction. He tilted Hainin's face upwards by taking his chin in his fingers. "Don't think that this changes anything."

Hainin stared beseechingly into Nazir's eyes, wanting very much to believe him. "You're wrong," he replied quietly. "It changes everything." Nazir shook his head, but Hainin went on, ignoring this: "The only time I'm going to be allowed to hold you is when we're alone. The only time I'm going to be able to look at you is when no one else is around. It was already hard enough to avoid this when I hadn't known you shared my feelings, and now that I know that you do…" He trailed off and pulled away from Nazir. "I don't…"

"Hainin," Nazir sighed gently. "I just need time. Can't you… Give that to me?"

Hainin wished that he could. He truly, very much wished that he could give Nazir all the time in the world to grow comfortable with showing their affections for one another to everyone. But as he turned to look at the Redguard, to say no, Nazir gave him the most hurt look he'd ever received before in his life. And he'd spoken to people before he killed them, when they knew that's what he had come for. He knew what hurt and desperation looked like on a person. Seeing it on Nazir, however, broke something inside of him.

He nodded, closing his eyes. "All right," he murmured, "I'll wait for you."

He opened his eyes when he felt Nazir's hand on his cheek. "Thank you," the Redguard said before he softly kissed Hainin on the lips. Hainin resisted the temptation to kiss him back, knowing that he needed to show Nazir he wasn't happy with this agreement.

The assassin pulled back, understanding, and started walking again. Hainin lingered back only a moment before following.

(^)

"Gods be good," Hainin gasped. "Where in the Void could this place possibly be?"

It was already starting to grow dark, and the two assassin had spent the last two hours trying to locate the entrance to Dayspring Canyon. They had no idea where it could be; they had been scanning the mountain it's was found in to no avail. It seemed like it didn't exist.

"Blast!" Hainin exclaimed when he ran into Nazir. The two had decided to circle the mountain in opposite directions, and it seemed the Redguard hadn't found anything, either. "This is getting out of hand."

"I agree," Nazir answered, giving the mountain side a glare. "This is absolutely atrocious. Where could it be?"

Hainin threw up his hands, and the Redguard glowered angrily. "Well, damn," he muttered. "Soon we won't be able to see anything at all, let alone an entrance to a canyon that doesn't exist!"

Hainin cursed under his breath. "We're going to have to make camp until we can look for it again," he said, annoyed. "We'll never be able to find it in the darkness."

Nazir merely dropped the pack he was wearing onto the ground. "It appears that's our only option, doesn't it?" he asked sourly.

Hainin couldn't blame him for how he was acting. They were both exhausted, and, if Nazir was anything like Hainin, the Redguard also had a headache that was constantly stabbing the area above his left eyebrow. He wanted nothing more than to curl up under his warm green blanket back at the Dawnstar Sanctuary and fall asleep, but since he was halfway across Skyrim from his warm green blanket and the Dawnstar Sanctuary, his only other option was to join Nazir in setting up a tent and laying out the bedrolls.

He chose to do that rather than complain about having to pause the search, since setting up camp had been his idea. He pulled off his own pack with a sigh and crouched down to search inside of it. Nazir walked past him as he did so, a hand brushing his hair as he strolled by.

Hainin gave him a look, curious. "What was that?" he queried, watching the Redguard prop up a tent on two long sticks he had found.

Nazir smiled. "You ever think of cutting it off?" he teased, chuckling.

Hainin frowned, his brow furrowing instantly. "Hey," he warned, reaching up to protect his hair with his hand. "Don't you even go there; I need my hair."

He pulled out his bed roll and tossed it to the other assassin. Nazir caught it easily and unrolled beside his own under the tent. Hainin turned to gather some branches to get a fire going. He felt Nazir's eyes on him as he did flashed a fire spell at the pile he had formed. The branches and pine needles instantly caught the flames, and a fire was burning brightly before them a few seconds later.

"Where'd you learn that?" Nazir asked him as Hainin sat down fully. When the Imperial lifted an eyebrow at him, the Redguard gestured to his hand that had formed the fire.

Hainin sighed sadly and clenched his fist. "Festus taught me a few spells before."

Nazir shifted his gaze to the fire at the old wizard's name. Hainin bowed his head, biting his lip. "I miss them, y'know?" he asked quietly. Nazir nodded in understanding, and Hainin snorted. "Funny, thinking about it after all this time."

"You don't?" Nazir questioned, glancing in his direction.

Hainin shrugged. "Not if I can avoid it. Brings up too many memories. I've already cried enough over it; no reason to dwell on what happened."

The Redguard nodded, though clearly he didn't agree with Hainin's view on the matter. The Imperial lifted his eyes to Nazir, waiting. The Redguard indeed spoke up: "It doesn't mean we can't think about it, though. It wasn't our fault whatsoever."

"It was mine," Hainin said quietly.

"Hay-"

"It was, Nazir. Astrid wanted me dead because I'm the Listener. Her death wish on me set the whole chain of events in motion. My joining the Family caused everything." He turned away again. "Do you know what that feels like? To carry around that sort of thing on your shoulders? It makes me wonder how I'm able to come back to the Sanctuary after I finish a job and look Babette in the eye, knowing I killed her Family."

He glanced towards Nazir sadly. "It's even worse with you."

"Hainin, it wasn't your fault," Nazir attempted. "Astrid let her need for power infest her mind. She went to desperate measures to make sure she didn't lose the control over the Brotherhood she had, and she lost it because of that. She lost everything, and everyone, because she was worried she would be kicked out of her position as queen."

Nazir reached over and touched Hainin's shoulder. "You had nothing to do with Astrid's obsession. I promise you that neither I nor Babette blame you for the loss of the Family," he swore gently.

Hainin forced a grateful smile, though Nazir knew him well enough to know when he was faking. The Redguard ignored it, and Hainin slipped closer to him. Nazir grinned slightly and pulled Hainin's head into his lap. The two gazed silently at the red-orange flames before them for a long while.

After a bit, Hainin grinned and looked up at Nazir. The Redguard felt his eyes and looked down. "What are you smirking about?" he asked.

Hainin didn't stop grinning. Without a word, he drew his dagger from its scabbard and, in one quick motion, sliced off Nazir's beard just above the gold ring. The Redguard cursed in surprise as Hainin held up the hair between his thumb and pointer finger, laughing.

"You look so much better already!" he said.

Nazir ripped the beard from his fingers, holding it gingerly in his hand. "I can't believe you did that," he mumbled, too dumbfounded to be angry.

Hainin sat up, still laughing. "What did you expect to happen when I pulled out my dagger?" he asked, sliding the weapon back into its scabbard.

Nazir sighed sadly and slid the gold ring from the fallen beard before he tossed the dark hair into the fire. He held out his hand, and Hainin shook his head, holding out his own. "Give me yours."

Nazir frowned, and Hainin sighed before pulling his dagger out once more. He pushed Nazir down onto his back and straddled him, reaching for one of the water skins he had taken from his pack. He splashed come water onto Nazir's face and some onto the blade.

He held up the dagger, glancing down at Nazir. "Don't worry," he said, "I do this all the time. You're going to look very nice."

Slowly, gingerly, he started to clean up the remainder of Nazir's facial hair. Nazir gazed up at him, brows drawn together unhappily. "I'm annoyed with you," he informed the Imperial.

Hainin grinned, not looking up from his work. "I don't care. You're going to look better."

It didn't take long to shave him, and within a few minutes, Nazir's face was cleaned up. Hainin smiled at his success and nodded appreciatively. "Yes, I knew it. You're definitely the most handsome man I've ever met now. Well, other than myself, of course."

He climbed off of the Redguard and wiped his dagger on a handkerchief. Nazir sat up and touched his chin and cheeks. Hainin had let a thin layer of dark stubble that would grow out and need to be shaved again, but it gave Nazir a very attractive dark look to him. Much better than that unneeded strand of hair that had originally dangled from his chin.

Nazir let out a breath and looked at him. "Are you sure?" he queried.

Hainin nodded reassuringly. "Of course. I wouldn't have done it otherwise. Don't you trust me?"

"Not anymore," the Redguard responded. He held up the gold ring, the only thing that remained of his original style. "If we get home and Babette laughs at me, I'm cutting off _your_ hair."

"Good luck with that!" Hainin chortled. He put his dagger away and crawled over to the tent where his bedroll awaited. Before he could reach it, however, Nazir grabbed the back of his armor and pulled him to a halt. Hainin glanced back at him. "What?"

"I'm not finished," Nazir responded. He tugged on Hainin's belt insistently, and the Imperial slid backwards toward him. He leaned his head back, and Nazir frowned at him. "You really don't deserve this, you know that?"

In answer, Hainin reached up and put a hand on the back of Nazir's neck to pull his lips down, leaning up on his opposite elbow to meet the Redguard halfway. Before their lips connected however, there was the click of something metal, and the sound of heavy boots on the foliage around them.

"Don't move," someone commanded gruffly. "There are four of us here, and all of us are holding machines that you won't even begin to understand. Each machine can easily kill you in one shot, and that's all you need to know. If you would like to stay alive, I would suggest staying still."

Hainin groaned against Nazir's lips, annoyed. "Of course," he sighed. "Someone always interrupts just when the fun part it about to begin."

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><strong>Oh pity.<strong>

** I wonder who it could be?***

**Anyway, hope y'all enjoyed, and I will see you next weekend hopefully.**

***sarcasm overlay is strong with this one**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey. How's it going? Everyone have good holidays? Hope so; I surely did. **

**Anyhoo, I'm getting back into this. It was fun to write again after not writing for a couple of weeks or however the fuck long it was. Unfortunately, this chapter is a bit short. Next week's will be longer. **

**Maybe.**

**I can't make any promises.**

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><p>Hainin is shoved along behind Nazir into a cave that had seemingly appeared out of nowhere in the side of the mountain. As soon as they had passed through it to the other side and into the darkened canyon, the Listener cursed rather loudly.<p>

"Of course, we can't find it by ourselves," he said, "but when someone comes and takes us prisoner, we have no roblem!"

"Quiet." The leader of the band of Dawnguard that had found them outside the canyon gave him a glare. "No talking."

Hainin returned the glare, still annoyed. "How about you let us explain what we're doing here, and then decide whether or not you want to keep us tied up like this." He held up his bound hands.

"Hainin," Nazir warned, glancing over his shoulder at him. "Please stop talking."

The Imperial frowned at him, but closed his mouth all the same. The troupe of Dawnguard marched them down the canyon in silence. Hainin gazed around, though he couldn't see much considering the moons were both thin claws in the sky overhead and there was barely any light leaking down into the canyon.

They walked on for quite a bit of time in silence, until Hainin caught sight of a tall, giant dark form in the distance. His eyes widened. "Is that-?"

"Fort Dawnguard," one of the Dawnguard confirmed. "Isran has been fixing it up and making it suitable to our needs for a few months now."

"Shut up!" his leader ordered, whacking him over the head with the back of his hand. "What did I tell you before?"

The Dawnguard bowed his head. "We're not supposed to say anything to anyone outside the canyon," he said quietly.

"That's the thing, though!" Hainin exclaimed. He pulled against the rope around his wrists. "We're here to help you with the vampires!"

Immediately, the leader grabbed the front of his armor and pulled him abruptly to a halt. "What do you know about vampires?" he hissed, leering into Hainin's face.

The Imperial pushed the Breton away half-heartedly and, again, held up his hands. "Take these off and then we'll talk," he muttered.

The Breton growled deep in his throat and pushed him back in line. "If you won't talk to me, perhaps you'll talk to Isran," he threatened.

"Oh, I'm quaking in my boots!" Hainin responded before he spat at the Breton's feet.

"You-" The Breton began, but a female Bosmer reached forward and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Celann, he's not worth it," she told him softly.

Celann glared at Hainin a moment longer before he merely snorted and tightened his grip on the machine he was holding. "Let's keep going," he said to the others.

The Bosmer glanced at Hainin, and he lowered his gaze to the ground, annoyed. He would've gladly taken whatever Celann had thrown at him, just so he would have been able to return it.

Nazir turned to look at him as Hainin picked up his pace, and the Redguard narrowed his eyes. "What is your problem?" he demanded quietly but angrily. "You're going to make these people hate us before we even have a chance to explain what we're doing here!"

"They're not giving us a chance!" Hainin retorted in a sharp whisper. "How are we supposed to explain we want to help them when they aren't letting us?"

"Just keep your mouth shut and let me do the talking from here on, all right?" Nazir questioned, facing forward. "Do what you do best; sit back and _listen_."

"Excuse you?" Hainin asked, taken back.

"You heard me," Nazir replied. "Shut up and don't say anything else."

Hainin inhaled sharply and was about to retort when Celann called for the party to halt. He almost ran into the Nord who had been saying too much, but he stopped just before he did so. "What now?" he said to the Breton.

Celann didn't look at him, but merely gestured forward with his weapon. Hainin turned his gaze to where he was pointing and let out a low whistle. They were standing in front of Fort Dawnguard. The giant gray stone building loomed up above the walls of the canyon, its many towers giving it the look of a castle more than that of a fort.

"By Sithis," Nazir said beside him.

"Pretty nice, huh?" the Nord in front of Hainin asked, grinning.

"It's huge."

"Yes, it is," Celann agreed, "similar to the size of problems you're going to be having as soon as we go inside. Come on."

Hainin couldn't resist an eye roll as the Breton walked up the stone stairs and tugged on the handle of one of the big double doors. It opened towards them with a subtle screeching sound. Hainin flinched.

"Welcome to Fort Dawnguard," the Bosmer said, giving both the assassins a small smile as she pushed them up the stairs.

Hainin and Nazir stepped into the fort at the same time, and Hainin's eyes went huge. "By the Eight," he said quietly in awe.

The room they had stepped into was giant and domed. Weak light filtered in from the giant window on the roof, and several halls were cut into the walls and marked with tall columns. Hainin literally had to spin around in a circle before he could speak again.

"This place is… Huge."

"Yes, it is," someone agreed from behind him. Hainin turned to see a Redguard walk out from one of the side halls with stairs at the end. He approached the group in the center of the room slowly, eyeing the assassins all the while. When he reached them, he stopped and glanced from Nazir to Hainin and back again before looking at Celann. "I see you were right, and I was wrong."

"You owe me some ale, old friend," Celann replied. He shoved Hainin forward towards the Redguard. "This one has been giving me some trouble."

"Isran, I assume?" Hainin asked, straightening. When the Redguard merely stared at him, he nodded to his hands. "I would shake, but I'm a bit tied up."

Isran wasn't amused by the joke. He ignored Hainin and turned to Nazir. "What are you doing in Fort Dawnguard?" he questioned.

Nazir shrugged his shoulders. "Why don't you ask your friends? They're the ones that brought us here."

Isran's eyes narrowed. "I had hoped that you'd be smarter than your friend here, seeing as how you are also Redguard, but it seems my thought was wrong," he muttered darkly. "I want to know why you were outside the canyon."

Nazir looked at Hainin. The Imperial lifted an eyebrow. "He's asking you, Red."

"We're here to learn more about the vampire problem," Nazir said to Isran.

The Redguard cocked his head. "What do you know of the vampires?"

"Not much," Nazir responded. "Hainin was in Morthal when a vampire attacked his horse in a clearing outside the city."

Celann glanced at Isran. "They're getting bolder," he murmured.

"So I'm hearing," Isran replied. The Redguard turned and walked off a few paces, hands behind his back. "A while ago, when I was still a Vigilant of Stendarr, my family was murdered by vampire cultists. Celann lost his family as well. We tried to get the others to see vampires were a big problems, but the Vigil thought my methods were slightly extreme."

"We left the order to form our own partnership, but it didn't last," Celann went on. "I didn't agree with some of what Isran was doing, either."

Isran turned back around to face them. "A few months ago, a group of vampires attacked the Nightgate Inn in the Pale. I was staying there at the time. They came out in daylight, something I had never seen vampires do before. It was as if they didn't fear the sun in the same way they had."

"What happened?" Hainin asked.

"I managed to kill two, but the others ran off before I could do anything about them. A few days later, I heard about another attack in the Rift, near Ivarstead. A pair of hunters were found slaughtered on the side of the road, teeth marks and claw marks marring their bodies," Isran said.

"Isran contacted me about the attacks. I had already heard about them myself," Celann added. "We decided it was high time to do something about the demons, and so we aimed to start the Dawnguard." He held out his hands, odd mechanical weapon in one. "This is what we've accomplished so far."

Hainin glanced at Nazir. The Redguard was gazing at Isran. "What do you plan on doing about them?" he queried.

"We plan on finding out where they're holing up and killing them at the source," Isran answered. "Unfortunately, we haven't heard anything new in a while. At least, until you arrived with news of another attack."

"So close to a city," the Bosmer said quietly. She glanced at her commanders. "Do you think it's near Morthal?"

Isran shook his head. "They may attack close to a city, but vampires wouldn't set up near humans unless necessary."

"So you think they're far from civilization?" Hainin frowned. "Where could that be?"

"Probably on some undiscovered island somewhere," Celann said.

"Isran, don't forget about Brother Tolan," the Nord said. They all turned to look at him, and he lifted his shoulders. "Vampires attacked the Hall of the Vigilant, too. He spoke with you earlier this morning."

"Ah yes," Isran agreed. "I meant to send someone to Dimhollow Crypt to find out just what the vampires are after, but I was busy after speaking with Tolan."

"Why don't you send these two?" Celann offered. He nodded to Hainin and Nazir. "The Imperial said they wanted to help."

"Ahah, I didn't mean that we were going to go sneaking through caves after vampires," Hainin interrupted. "I thought we could maybe go to wherever they were hiding and kill 'em all."

"Well, perhaps you'll find out where they were in Dimhollow," Isran replied. "You and your friend will go to Dimhollow Crypt and figure out whatever it was the vampires were after. If you find anything, you are to bring the information to me at once, do you understand?"

Hainin wanted to disagree, but Nazir stepped in front of him with a nod. "Just give us a route and we'll be on our way." He passed Isran their map, and the Redguard walked off to mark it.

Hainin stepped around Nazir and glared at him. "What did I say before about tromping across Skyrim?" he hissed quietly.

"You said in search of potions," Nazir reminded him. "This is to figure out what the vampires are looking for. We find it first, and then we'll deal with them when they come after it."

Before Hainin could argue further, Isran came back, map in hand. He handed it to Nazir, saying, "You can set off in the morning. For now, get some sleep. I have a feeling that the vampires aren't going to just let you stroll right into the cave."

The Redguard turned and walked away down the main hall, the other Dawnguard members following behind him. Hainin grabbed Nazir's robes before he could as well, and pulled him to a halt. "We're not going to get friendly with them," he warned.

"I don't want to," Nazir replied, "but they're offering us a place to sleep that's much warmer than outside, and I aim to see what it is." He pulled his robes from Hainin's grasp and hurried after the Dawnguard. Hainin cursed under his breath in annoyance before following with a huff.

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><p><strong>Eh. Hainin doesn't seem to be very happy about this arrangement. I wouldn't be, either, if my boyfriend had found a new buddy the same race as him. <strong>

**Not that Nazir and Isran are buddies.**

**Yet.**

**Wink. Wink. Wink. **


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